Mixed emotions for Sandro

Sandro said he was 'sad' not to win but described Sunday’s draw at Villa as a 'great point'.

Trailing 1-0 at half-time at Villa Park, we were reduced to 10 men with 40 minutes remaining following Danny Rose’s red card.

But the 10 men dominated, equalised through Emmanuel Adebayor’s penalty and pushed on for a winner.

A final shot count of 21-4 in our favour told the story but we couldn’t find a second goal against a Villa team happy to sit in, knowing a point would secure their place in the Premier League.

The draw lifted us over Newcastle into fourth and a point behind Arsenal going into the final weekend of the season.

We face Fulham at home on Sunday, Arsenal travel to West Brom and Newcastle go to Everton. Chelsea are five points behind with two matches left, Liverpool away on Tuesday, Blackburn at home on Sunday.

“It was a very hard game,” said Sandro, who showed incredible energy levels in midfield for the 90 minutes.

“We scored one goal, but it was tough. It’s a great point for us because we lost a player. It was so difficult, every player was behind the line and Villa were only looking to defend. It was difficult to score.

“I’m sad because I wanted to win this game, but now the next game is like a cup final. We can do it.”